Firefighter reunited with, then adopts, cat he saved

“Lucky,” a feral kitty uprooted from her nest along Interstate 5 when an SUV careened down the hillside, has found a home with the firefighter who saved her life.

On March 4, I wrote about San Diego firefighters responding to a rollover crash near Old Town. While examining the wreckage, Andy Wilga came across a muddy, bedraggled kitten in the uprooted ice plant. He wrapped it in blankets, named it Lucky, then turned it over to the county Department of Animal Services as he headed to another emergency.

On the next business day, Wilga stopped by the Gaines Street shelter to adopt the kitty but learned its age was only 3 to 4 weeks, and it had been transferred to foster care. He left his phone number but held out little hope of ever seeing Lucky again.

Last week, however, the Friends of County Animal Shelters, which had handled the foster care, contacted him and asked if he still was interested. Not only was Lucky now of adoptable age, healthy and neutered, but she had been joined by four siblings found the following day at the accident scene.

Katrina Holms had all five with her when she dropped Lucky off at Wilga’s home in Encinitas. After seeing them play, the firefighter adopted one of Lucky’s brothers as well. The next day, the three remaining kittens found homes through a FOCAS adoption display at Petsmart. A purr-fect ending.

Earthquake aftermath

There are some bright moments as Americans deliver tents, sleeping bags, water and food to evacuees in the rural earthquake-shaken region 30 miles south of Mexicali, Mexico. Enrique Morones, organizer of the Border Angels humanitarian aid group, led a caravan of nine SUVs loaded with supplies there last Saturday. One indigenous evacuee, now living outdoors in the makeshift La Playa camp, let him hold her baby, born in the camp the day before.

“What is his name,” Morones asked.

“America,” she said, smiling.

Trivial pursuit

The volcanic ash creating havoc with European flight schedules reminds Chula Vista English teacher Alex Partee of the word often cited as being the longest in English language dictionaries. (It was originally coined in 1935 by the head of the National Puzzlers’ League). This word has Mary Poppins’ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious beat by 11 letters. The lingual concoction is: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis — a whopping 45 characters. It’s a lung disease caused by breathing fine particles of volcanic ash.

Military honors

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the memorial reception for San Diegan Robert Anderson, a decorated World War II fighter pilot buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors earlier this month. Anderson, who died in October at age 91, served in the war with Maj. “Pappy” Boyington, whose autobiography was turned into a 1970s’ NBC-TV series, “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” starring Robert Conrad. Actor John Larroquette played Anderson. “My grandfather used to say, ‘The only thing accurate about that show was that we flew Corsairs,’” says Allie Dixon, of Solana Beach.

It’s a wrap

Earth Day in San Diego is getting a boost from the lovable Lorax. The Dr. Seuss character’s image has been wrapped around a trolley with the blessing of Audrey Geisel, widow of author Ted Geisel. Audrey says “The Lorax” was one of her husband’s favorite books because he felt so strongly about environmental issues. She says the trolley’s “Go Green” theme reinforces the Lorax’s message: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”